Mont Pelerin Society (MPS)

History

In 1947, a group of 36 scholars met at Mont Pelerin, Switzerland at the invitation of professor and author Friedrich Hayek to discuss the fate of classical liberalism. Calling itself the “Mont Pelerin Society” after its initial meeting, the meeting encouraged an exchange of ideas amongst scholars on the principles of a free society and the study of market-oriented economic systems. ¹

Along with Hayek, who was the president of MPS until 1961, other founding members included libertarian theorist Ludwig von Mises, philosopher Karl Popper, and economists Frank H. Knight, Milton Friedman, and George Stigler. ³

The Mont Pelerin Society’s statement of aims states that civilized society and freedom of thought and expression are threatened by an increase in arbitrary power and a decline in support for private property and the competitive market. ⁴

Funding

The Mont Pelerin Society is funded through membership dues and donations from other organizations. While the Mont Pelerin Society does not disclose other donors, tax filings confirm donations from the Sarah Scaife Foundation ($75,000 in 2019), ⁵ the Pierre F. and Enid Goodrich Foundation ($20,000 in 2020), ⁶ and the Roe Foundation ($10,000 in 2020). ⁷

Board of Directors

Gabriel Calzada is the president of the board of MPS, the founder and president of the Instituto Juan de Mariana, and an associate professor of economics at King Juan Carlos University. Calzada is a fellow at the Centre for the New Europe and a former fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. ⁸

Deirdre Nansen McCloskey is the vice president of MPS and a distinguished professor of economics, history, English, and communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago. ⁹

Alberto Mingardi is the secretary of MPS, an assistant professor in history of political thought at IULM University of Milan, and the director general of the Istituto Bruno Leoni.  Mingardi is also a presidential fellow in political theory at the Chapman Institute and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. ¹⁰

Benjamin Powell is the treasurer of MPS, the executive director of the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University, a senior fellow at the Independent Institute, and the secretary-treasurer of both the Southern Economic Association and the Association of Private Enterprise Education. ¹¹

Dora de Ampuero is the founder of the Ecuadorian Institute of Political Economy. ¹²

Pierre Garello is the president of the Institute for Economic Studies Europe (IES-Europe), the coordinator of the European Resource Bank, and a director of research at the Institute for Research in Economics and Fiscal Issues (IREF). ¹³

Roberta Herzberg is a distinguished senior fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute, and the vice-chair of the Health Advisory Council. ¹⁴

Nils Karlson is the founding president and CEO of the Ratio institute and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. ¹⁵

Martin Krause is professor of economics at the University of Buenos Aires School of Law and Social Sciences and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. ¹⁶

Robert Lawson is the director of the Bridwell Institute for Economic Freedom at the Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business, a former president of the Association of Private Enterprise Education, and a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute. ¹⁷

Ron Manners sits on the advisory council of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation. ¹⁸

Parth Shah is the founder and president of the Centre for Civil Society. ¹⁹